Unexpected
by LouBlue
Summary: Olicity. After a picturesque ending to S3, what happens down that road they drove off together on? Just a bit of fun with the possibilities of this loved up couple. I'd tell you more, but it's only a 4 chapter story. It'd honestly be quicker for you to read it. Well, for me anyways. I guess not so much for you... probably should've thought that justification through a bit more.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** **: Howdy guys, thanks for clicking on my story. I'll keep this brief… and ignore the hysterical laughter of my dear readers who know of me and my infamously long A/N's. I can keep it to the point… in theory.**

 **This story was written on a whim. It's a one shot… which has ended up being 4 chapters long. That's pretty much me all over – everything is about as 4x as long as I plan… see my other Arrow fics which get bigger on each sequel.**

 **But this one, it was just meant to be a bit of fluff and nonsense… and this chapter is definitely that. Everyone is writing Olicity riding off into the sunset fics. I kind of got sucked into the fluffy. And this fic was born.**

 **Hope you have fun with it. I did. :D**

Unexpected

By Louise Blue

 **CHAPTER ONE**

Felicity backed slowly out of the bathroom, gnawing anxiously on her thumbnail. She was alone in the luxurious log cabin Oliver had rented for them, high in the Rocky Mountains. Canada was beautiful. Nothing but rolling hills of green, clean air and nature in all of its glory. There was a town twenty minutes drive away, where they picked up supplies every couple of days, but otherwise she and Oliver were completely alone. Just the two of them in a lover's paradise. No maniacal madmen trying to level a city. No Leagues of Assassins head honcho marrying you off to the most inappropriate person on the planet. Just the quiet chirp of birds, the gurgle of crystal clear mountain streams, and endless hours to while away in each other's company. It was literally the happiest time of her life. The last three months had been perfect. Oliver had been perfect. Everything was just perfect. The gnawing on her thumbnail increased in ferocity as she stared into the bathroom, her anxiety levels rising.

"How do you feel about eggs for breakfast?"

Felicity started violently, and swung around at the sound of the casual question. Her heart leapt into her throat at seeing Oliver standing there. "What are you doing here?" she practically yelled at him. Felicity hadn't meant to say that quite so loudly, but her adrenalin was pumping at his unexpected appearance.

Oliver arched a mildly surprised eyebrow at her tone, but then gave a lop-sided smile as he picked up a slice of toast from the table. "Well, you see, a few months back, I drove off into the sunset with this gorgeous blond I happen to be crazy in love with, and the next thing you know—" Oliver waved his hand around the room. "Canada." He took a mouthful of the buttered toast, munching happily.

That was cute, but Felicity was too distracted for cute right then. "I thought you were going for a run." And Oliver was indeed in his sweatpants and grey hoodie, but there was a decided lack of running going with that ensemble. He should have been halfway up the mountain by now. Not standing there, interrupting private things.

He shrugged. "It started to rain, so I turned back."

This was bad, he wasn't meant to be here right now. Felicity scowled at him fiercely. "It's only a little water. Didn't you survive years on hell island? Toughen up, princess."

Oliver paused in bringing the toast up to his lips, looking at her quizzically over the top of the slice.

He was looking at her like she was crazy, which Felicity couldn't deny, she felt a little unhinged right then, but she wasn't prepared to talk about that yet. Oliver had to be put off. She took a deep breath. "And another thing, would it kill you to make some noise when you walk? You're a giant. Giants should make some noise when they move around, and not be all sneaking up on a person. You being all light footed is some kind of weird sin against nature deal." _Offense was the best form of defense wasn't it?_ She couldn't stop now. Felicity jabbed a finger at him. "So, you need to go back outside and think about what you've done, mister," she told him unevenly. "You can come back inside in another ten minutes or so."

Oliver continued the toast's journey to his mouth, taking a bite and chewing slowly as he regarded her with unabashed curiosity. "Are we doing some kind of skit?" he asked at last. "And if we are, I think there are a few pages missing from my script." Oliver tilted his head. "Like… all of it up to now." That adorable lopsided smile was back. "Care to fill me in on what I missed?"

"You haven't missed anything," said Felicity primly. It was her doing the missing, but they weren't talking about that right now.

"Really, because I kind of feel like I have."

"Nope, you haven't, everything is fine." Perhaps if she hadn't been quite so bug eyed with that assertion, Oliver would have that look continued look of skepticism on his face.

He took a step towards her, and Felicity immediately stiffened. "What are you doing?" she asked sharply.

"I was going into the bathroom to shave. Someone told me recently kissing me is like making out with a toilet brush these days."

That was true, Oliver had let his beard get away from him a little. "I love your beard," said Felicity hastily.

"Funny, because that toilet brush comment was a direct quote… you know… from you… last night."

Felicity couldn't let him go into the bathroom. "Changed my mind. You should let it get longer. Really long, like able to plait it long."

"Probably not going to do that. I don't think I can pull that look off." He moved towards her and the bathroom again.

Felicity panicked, and spread her arms and legs out, attempting to block the entrance to the bathroom. "You can't go in there!"

"Felicity—"

"I told you, I love the beard. Keep the beard."

"Okay, but I kind of need to pee."

Felicity glared at him. "You're so high maintenance all of a sudden. What's that about?"

"The fact that I hydrated for a run I didn't end up having," said a perplexed Oliver.

"Can't you just pee in the sink?"

Oliver looked over his shoulder at the kitchen sink and then back to Felicity. "Probably not, seeing as I wasn't raised by wolves." He gave a little laugh. "Felicity, what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on, why would you say that?" she asked defensively, still stretched out in the bathroom doorway.

He looked her over. "I don't know… reasons… mainly centered around sink peeing."

Felicity tried to bluff her way clear of this corner she was backed into. "Everything is fine. If anyone is being weird, it's you, with your giant no noise making feet and tiny bladder."

Oliver was looking downright confused now. "Is one of us having a stroke? Because I feel like one of us is having a stroke right now."

"What is so weird about a woman wanting a little privacy in the bathroom?"

"You're not in the bathroom." He pointed out. "You've just appointed yourself as some kind of weird, guardian of the bathroom door." Oliver folded his arms in front of his chest. "And I don't know why."

Felicity mimicked his stance, folding her arms in front of her chest, chin coming up. "Maybe I have a secret lover in there? Ever think of that?"

"Honestly, no. We're miles from civilization. Unless your secret lover is a bear, I'm not seeing that as a real possibility."

"Maybe I've been hiding him in the woods, waiting for you to leave?" she offered up defiantly. Felicity knew she was being ridiculous, but she needed to buy some more time, then she'd know if she had a reason to freak out or not.

Oliver inclined his head. "I'm still leaning towards a no on that secret lover business." A slow, sexy smile spread across his lips. "Mainly because I feel like I've kept you more than satisfied in that department."

Felicity's cheeks heated at the memories of their many wanton encounters in the last three months. _So many encounters… so, so much wantoness._

His eyes danced with mischief. "In fact I'm shocked our legs still remember how to work, seeing as we've been off them, more than on them on this little road trip."

"You're only saying that because we've had a ton of sex," said Felicity faintly. Which was a little bit the problem. It hadn't felt like a problem at the time. But now, now it definitely did.

"Probably."

"We should have sex now," said Felicity abruptly. Of course, why hadn't she thought of that first? Sex was an awesome distraction tool. Felicity started to pull her blouse off over her head, walking towards him. "Come on."

"Ah… Felicity, you know I'm never one to turn down sex with you, but I feel like you're using this to try and distract me from something that is going on with you."

Felicity could hear Oliver's vaguely concerned voice, but she couldn't see him as in her haste, she'd forgotten to undo the buttons on her blouse and it was stuck on her head. She didn't want to waste time trying to undo the buttons, so she just kept tugging, walking blindly towards the sound of Oliver's voice. "That is totally not what's happening," she asserted, voice muffled by the material of her shirt.

"Felicity, look ou—"

Oliver's warning came too late as she blindly careened into the kitchen table. Her stomach connected painfully with the solid oak, pushing the air out of her lungs, and causing her to lose her balance. She tumbled to the floor in a blind, graceless heap.

"Felicity!"

Oliver was by her side in a flash, on the ground beside her. He deftly undid the buttons of her blouse enough so that he could untangle her from its nefarious clutches, pulling it off over her head and throwing it to one side. Oliver gripped her arms with both hands, looking into her dazed eyes as he knelt beside her. "Are you alright?"

Felicity wasn't sure. It had happened so quickly. Her stomach was still smarting from the knock she'd given it. Fear gripped Felicity at that realization. _Oh God, her stomach_. "I think I'm pregnant," she blurted out, too scared in that moment to go with her original plan of discretion, and finding out for sure before telling Oliver anything.

Oliver's eyes went wide. "Wh-what?"

The words tumbled out of her mouth as she put a hand to her smarting stomach. "I haven't had a period in two months and I didn't realize because days and dates don't really matter since we started this road trip, but then I was in the pharmacy yesterday when we did our food run, and realized I hadn't bought tampons in a while, and then I started counting and-and—" Felicity voice became strained. "And I think I might be pregnant."

"Felicity," rasped Oliver, looking overwhelmed.

"I might be pregnant, and I just hit our child in the face with a table." She sucked in a strangled, distressed breath. "I'm going to be a _horrible_ mom."

"No, you're not," said Oliver swiftly. "You're going to be an awesome mom." He suddenly was no longer crouching, dropping down to sit on the ground with her. "You-you think you're pregnant?" he asked in amazement.

"Yes, no, I don't know," whispered Felicity in distress. "I-I bought a pregnancy test in the pharmacy and it said morning pee was the best, so I waited, and it's morning now, so I peed… on the stick—"

"In the bathroom," said Oliver, finally filling in all the blanks. "Felicity," he said, sounding overwhelmed, and then suddenly frowned. "Why didn't you want me to know?"

"Because I don't know if there is anything to know," she said unhappily. "And I didn't want to freak you out until I knew if there was something to freak out about." Felicity clutched protective hands to her naked stomach as she sat on the floor only in a bra and shorts now. "But now I've just given our child brain damage, so now I'm freaking out about that."

"I-I don't think babies have brains when they're only a month or two old," said Oliver unsteadily.

She looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes. "Is that true?"

Oliver grimaced. "I don't know," he confessed regretfully. "Babies aren't really in my wheelhouse, particularly unborn ones."

"They're not in mine either," said Felicity hoarsely. "We have no business being parents, Oliver. We don't have the first idea what we're doing."

Oliver blinked. "I think that's what the nine months is for, to give parents a run up at this thing."

"Right," said Felicity, feeling a flash of hope, "I could read a book or something. There are tons of baby books out there. I'm a good researcher. I could research the hell out of having a baby."

"We both could."

Felicity gave him a look of surprise.

Oliver leaned in, expression serious. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I kind of had a hand in this baby as well, right?"

Felicity nodded mutely. "It was all the sex."

A small smile touched his lips. "I figured it might have been."

"So much sex. We've had so much sex, Oliver, and my contraceptive pill said it's only 98% effective and with all that sex, it didn't stand a chance. It was a numbers game, and our number's come up, maybe." Felicity shook her head. "I don't know, we have to wait for the ping."

Just then the buzzer went off behind them in the bathroom. Felicity's breath hitched in her throat. "The ping," she said in horror.

Oliver moved to stand up to check on the pregnancy test, but Felicity grabbed at his arm. "Wait."

Oliver immediately sat back down on the ground, looking at her worriedly. "What is it?"

"I need a minute," whispered Felicity. "We go into that bathroom, and everything could change for us." She blinked. "I need a minute."

Oliver's tone was very serious. "I understand, Felicity, but I need to know if I should be taking you to a doctor right now or not."

"A doctor?"

"You had a fall. It's bad when pregnant women fall down." Oliver cupped her face with his hand, worry lines she hadn't seen since leaving Starling marking his face. "And it's catastrophic when _my_ pregnant woman falls down." He moved his hand to her stomach, pressing gently on the bare flesh. "You're my entire world, Felicity. The rest of my life is devoted to taking care of you—" Oliver's hand moved restlessly over her stomach, a vaguely anxious smile touching his lips. "And any other passengers you might take on board."

Felicity was feeling a little overwhelmed in that moment. "I-I don't know what to hope for. We haven't talked babies yet. That felt like a later thing." They'd been decadently aimless in their present life. No talks of the future, just enjoying the unadulterated bliss of the now, after struggling so long to find their way to one another. A baby didn't allow for such notions. Babies meant plans and defined futures.

Oliver shrugged. "All laters become nows eventually. Our eventually was just a little shorter than we first thought."

She looked at him intently. "Did you… have you thought about babies, Oliver?"

"When I saw you with baby Sara the night she was born, I knew that was what I wanted." Oliver leant closer and pressed his forehead against hers. "And with who."

"If I'm pregnant, I probably just knocked your child unconscious," fretted Felicity. "Sure you're not rethinking the who part right about now?"

Oliver's forehead was still in contact with hers as he slowly shook his head. "Not even a little bit. You're my happily ever after, Felicity, and nothing could top that happiness other than being able to create new life to add to that ever after." He searched her face. "How do you feel about the possibility of being pregnant?"

"Overwhelmed, confused, scared, excited… cold." Goosebumps had risen on her naked flesh. Being shirtless in the Canadian woods, even in a cabin, could be a little chilly.

Oliver immediately wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back. "I never thought I'd be saying these words, but you need to put more clothes on." He loosened his hold on her, and then undid the zipper on his hoodie, draping it around Felicity's shoulders.

It was warm and smelt of Oliver, an instantly comforting pair of sensations.

"Felicity, I'm not trying to pressurize you, but I really need to go and look at that pregnancy test now. I need to know the level of panic I should be channeling into productive action."

"What if I'm not pregnant?" she stalled him. "Will you be upset or relieved?"

"If you're not pregnant, I won't be either. I'll just be happy to know that we'll have another chance to listen for that ping together, at a later date."

"And if I am pregnant?" she asked with a fair amount of trepidation.

"Then I'll be driving you to the nearest doctor at the safest break neck speed possible." Oliver's face dissolved in worry. "Does it hurt anywhere? Does anything feel wrong, internally I mean?"

"I don't know," said Felicity slowly. "You know how you don't notice anything until you focus on it, and then you're not sure if it was always like that, but you just hadn't noticed because you weren't thinking about it? I feel like that."

"But no stabbing pains or anything?" asked Oliver anxiously.

"Well, my butt is getting a little numb, but I don't think that's got anything to do with anything other than these floors are wooden."

Oliver grimaced. "I don't know if I should move you or not, just in case."

"I think we're overreacting," said Felicity tremulously. "Aren't we?"

"I don't know. You could be pregnant with my child. The last thing I want to do is underreact."

"I guess if we find out one way or the other, we'll know if we are under or overing the reaction situation," said Felicity unsteadily.

Oliver looked hopeful. "Does that mean I have permission to go and look at the pregnancy test and find out?"

Felicity bit her bottom lip, screwing up her face. "Yes. I guess… maybe… probably yes."

"I heard two yeses in there, I'm going with yes," said Oliver determinedly. "Stay still and ah… breath, that's what they tell pregnant women, right?"

"I believe breathing is pretty popular amongst non-pregnant women too," said Felicity unevenly.

Oliver stood up and went to move towards the bathroom. She clutched at his leg. "It's still in the box. I peed on it and put it back in the box. Bring it out, and we can look at it together."

Oliver nodded, and then he was hurrying to the bathroom, and returning a few seconds later, box in hand. He dutifully came back to sit beside her on the ground. Oliver put the box down in front of them. "Okay, so, we're doing this."

Felicity slipped her hand into his, squeezing it tightly. "Okay."

They both stared at the box, neither one moving for a long moment, the enormity of what could be revealed by one tiny stick hitting them both.

"What are we looking for exactly?"

"Two blue lines."

The both continued to stare at the box.

"You know," said Oliver almost conversationally, "they say being pregnant makes a woman more frisky than usual." A smile played around his lips. "Can't say I wouldn't enjoy that."

"Oh please," snorted Felicity, "if I was any more frisky, you'd be dead."

Oliver's grin widened. "Totally worth it." He turned and looked at her. "I love you."

"I love you too," said Felicity emotionally. "I'm probably not, you know… pregnant I mean."

"But you could be."

"Not if you're sterile."

Oliver pursed his lips. "I don't feel like I am sterile."

"Does any man?"

"If I was sterile, I wouldn't have just gotten you pregnant."

"I don't know if I am pregnant," she reminded him breathlessly.

"Then we should probably look in the box, you know, kind of end the speculation."

"Promise me you won't be disappointed."

"If you're not pregnant?"

"If I'm not, if I am… either one."

"I won't be, Felicity. I'm just glad I'm doing this with the most important woman in the world to me." That intent look was back on his face. "What about you? Are you going to be disappointed?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you. My insides are kind of churning right now."

Oliver tensed beside her. "With nerves, right? Not with shooting pains or anything?"

Felicity heard the stress in Oliver's voice and knew if they didn't resolve this quickly, he might dissolve into some kind of panic attack. It was weird to think of Oliver being like that, but she could tell he was becoming more anxious by the moment. "Open the box."

Oliver kissed her, lips pressed against hers hard, as though this was the last chance they'd ever have. Like his life depended on it. Felicity returned it with all the love in her heart she had for him. Oliver broke the kiss and then, still holding onto her hand tightly, with his other hand, he reached out and shook out the white stick from the box. It landed face down on the floor. With a hand that Felicity couldn't help but notice was shaking slightly, he reached out and slowly turned it over. They both leaned forward, anxiously checking for the number of blue lines on that plastic stick. With one breath they breathed in, and then released it with a single, joint sound.

"Ohhh…"

 **A/N** **: Taking bets now – one blue line or two? Next chapter not far away, and thanks for reading. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** **: Hi guys, thanks so much for the awesome response to the first chapter. You're all legends! :D**

 **Now, initially when I did this story, I couldn't work out if I wanted one blue line or two. Until I worked out my hook with this story, I went back and forth. Ultimately I decided though, which led me to an interesting place. At least I was interested in it, hence the story.**

 **Anyhoo, hope you'll have fun with this chapter as I introduce an OC. Always tricky, but I hope he'll win you over. ;)**

 **See you tomorrow for the next chapter. :D**

 **CHAPTER TWO**

Oliver stood in the shadows, leaning against the concrete wall, waiting. He heard the footsteps before he saw the man step into view. Oliver watched Diggle walk towards his car, the two of them alone in the multistoried car park.

Diggle stopped just before getting to his car. He didn't turn around. "Am I meant to pretend I can't see you standing there?"

Oliver knew most people wouldn't have spotted him, but Diggle wasn't most people. He stepped out from the shadows. "No. I thought we needed to talk."

Diggle still had his back to him, but Oliver heard the little snort of disdain. "Is that what you thought?"

"Please, just a few minutes of your time, John, and then you don't ever have to see me again if you don't want to."

Diggle didn't move for a long moment, then he was turning around to face him.

Oliver felt his stomach tighten at the mistrust he could see in Diggle's face, when before it had only been open acceptance. It was hard to see the fallout from his decisions about Ra's Al Ghul in his friend's face.

Diggle looked him over. "Is Felicity with you?"

Oliver gave a short shake of his head. "No. I came by myself. She's still on Isla Mujeres."

"That little island off Cancun?"

"Yes." They'd left Canada two weeks ago, Felicity saying she felt like a little sun. They'd found a little beach cottage to rent, and had been spending bliss-filled days doing nothing other than being together.

"How is she?"

A small smile touched Oliver's lips. He couldn't help it when talking about Felicity. "Good, great… perfect."

"Say hi to her for me," said Diggle stiffly.

"I will."

When Oliver didn't immediately continue talking, Diggle frowned at him. "What are you doing here, Oliver?"

Oliver looked away briefly, trying to find the answer to that question he'd been asking himself on the five hour flight back to Seattle. His mind drifted back to two days ago, on the island…

#

Oliver stood in the kitchen of the little beach cottage, the sound of waves gently breaking on the beach just outside the door as he peeled his orange. He'd just come back from his run to find a note on the kitchen table in Felicity's hand writing.

' _Mercy dash – the very fabric of the universe is being threatened – back soon.'_

When he'd left she'd been sound asleep. Now she was running off to deal with some opening black hole threatening life as they knew it apparently. Oliver was glad his run hadn't been any longer. Who knew what he could have come back to then. Footsteps on the gravel path outside told him Felicity was back from her dash. He strolled out to meet her, taking a bite of his freshly peeled orange.

She smiled at him from underneath her wide brimmed hat. "Hey."

"Hey." Oliver moved to take the string bags of supplies from her.

Felicity rearranged her large, brightly colored canvas bag over her shoulder. "How was your run? I see you made your muscles cry. That's usually the goal, right?"

Oliver chuckled at the way she referenced his sweaty appearance. "Usually." He leant over and kissed her. "I didn't expect you to be up when I got back."

"You're only saying that because I've taken to sleeping in every morning," said Felicity teasingly as they walked up the short path to the beach hut. "But no, I retain the ability to get out of bed before ten, when it's really important."

"Yeah, about that," said Oliver as he let her walk into the house first, "could you attempt to make your notes a little less dramatic sounding in the future, please? If I was of a more nervous disposition, I might be inclined to worry."

"That note was painfully accurate in its summation of the enormity of the impending doom," said Felicity unrepentantly. She took off her hat to reveal slightly flushed cheeks from where the morning was already starting to warm up.

Oliver put the bags down on the tiny kitchen table. "We were out of coffee again, weren't we?"

Felicity made an exasperated noise. "Don't make that sound like it's nothing. It's not, it's something. It's a disaster of biblical proportions kind of something."

Oliver gave a snort of amusement. "Really, so, running out of coffee is as bad as plagues of locust, floods engulfing the entire world and it raining blood?"

"I won't even dignify that with an answer… but if I was going to dignify it, then the answer would be yes, yes it is."

"I'm beginning to think you're addicted to caffeine. Maybe you should switch to decaf?"

The strangled gasp Felicity made at that suggestion actually had Oliver quickly looking over at her, worried she'd hurt herself or something. The noise she'd made had been that full of horror to warrant such a response. But no, that pained sound she'd made was about coffee.

"There isn't much difference in the taste between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee," he protested. "You'd get used to it."

Felicity's eyes were wide and stricken. "That's like saying setting your penis on fire is a lot like having sex, and you'd get used to it after a while."

Oliver stopped in his unpacking of the groceries Felicity had just bought from the tiny shop down the road, to stare at her. "In what way are those two things comparable?"

"Exactly," said Felicity triumphantly.

"No, I mean penises and coffee, how can you compare the two?"

"There are a million comparisons between coffee and penises."

Oliver had to call her bluff on that one. "Okay then, name three, right now."

Felicity didn't hesitate, counting them off on her fingers. "One, they come in different colors and sizes—"

"Um… okay."

"Two, they're an acquired taste, but once you do, it's hard to give it up."

Oliver opened his mouth, but no words came out to address that point. It was really hard to know what to say to that.

"Three, they can get the heart pumping and make you release endorphins like crazy. Four—"

"I only asked for three," said Oliver unevenly. "Wow, you've really thought about this, haven't you? I don't know what to make of that."

"No, all that was just off the top of my head," said Felicity easily.

"Okay, well I _really_ don't know what to make of that." Other than this crazy conversation just made him fall even more in love with her. "But circling around to my point, maybe needing all that caffeine in your system isn't the best thing."

"You're only saying that because you haven't seen me without all this caffeine in my system before. Trust me, if I unleashed that horror, a flaming penis would be a welcome alternative."

"Yes, but what if there was something going on in your life that required you throttling back on the caffeine fixation?"

Felicity looked at him blankly. "I can't imagine anything in my life that caffeine doesn't make better."

Oliver hesitated, hoping he'd have more of a run up to this conversation, but he'd been waiting for the right moment to bring this up for a while now, and this felt like an opening he couldn't pass up. Thoughts and feelings had been collecting inside of him ever since that morning a couple of weeks back, when he'd come back from a shortened run to find Felicity guarding the bathroom door like some Demon Hound securing the gates of Hell. There had only been one blue line when they'd finally looked. Felicity wasn't pregnant. Oliver had told her that he wouldn't be disappointed, one way or the other, but as the days passed, he'd found himself going back to that moment more and more frequently. He couldn't stop remembering what it felt like for those few minutes thinking Felicity might be pregnant with his child. As scared as he'd been that she'd hurt herself running into that table, there had been this growing excitement inside of him at the thought of them creating a child together. Felicity hadn't mentioned it again, but Oliver felt a pressing need to talk to her about it more. Every new day he spent with her, Oliver sunk deeper into a state of euphoria he'd never known before. He was awash in happiness and contentment, and the thought of bringing new life into the bubble of joy they'd created for themselves, that was something Oliver couldn't stop thinking about all of a sudden. "I can think of one thing," said Oliver, looking at her intently.

Felicity held up her hand. "Wait, before we go any further, I have to finish my shopping story."

"It isn't much of a story. You walked to the shop, you walked back, right?"

"Basically correct, but you know how I'm practicing my Spanish, trying to get better at it?"

"Yes."

"Well, I was doing that when I was at the shop, and then this happened." Felicity fished inside her large bag and drew out a tiny bundle of yellow fluffiness, holding it in her palm.

Oliver stared at the tiny creature in Felicity's hand. "It's a duckling."

"You noticed that too, huh?"

Oliver titled his head. "Why did you buy a duckling?"

"I didn't buy a duckling."

"You stole a duckling?"

"No, of course not."

"Then I'm drawing a blank here."

"I was trying to buy toothpicks for you. You were complaining last night that we didn't have any."

"I wouldn't say complaining. More a statement of fact."

"Well, whatever you call it, I tried to get you some toothpicks."

Oliver was confused. "And what, you thought a duckling would be just as good at picking random strands of meat out of my teeth?"

Felicity gave him an exasperated look. "Of course not, ducklings aren't pointy enough for that kind of work."

"Glad we're both signing off on that fact."

"So, like I said, I was on a roll with practicing my Spanish—"

"And?"

"And, fun fact, the Spanish word for toothpick and duckling are very similar – palito versus patito. I must have rolled my 'l' too much… or not enough… whichever it was, but my point is—" Felicity waved her hand at the little bird. "Duckling."

Oliver cocked his head. "Couldn't you have just said you didn't want the duckling?"

"Oh, I tried, believe me. My hand gesturings were very emphatic on the matter." Felicity wrinkled her nose. "Which I think the woman took as me being excited to take Barry under my wing, so to speak." She looked suddenly concerned. "Plus, if I gave him back, I think his fate might have eventually involved the words 'Peking' in the title somewhere, and I couldn't let that happen to him." Felicity held Barry the duckling up to her face. "Look how adorable he is."

Oliver smiled, more enamored of the woman than the duck right then. He loved her big heart.

"How could you not want to rescue this from… you know, stuff." Felicity covered Barry's head with her hand. "I don't want to say being e-a-t-e-n, just in case ducks can understand English."

Oliver's smile became a little wry. "Do you think that's a huge possibility?"

"I think there is a lot we don't know about animals," sniffed Felicity. "His namesake is a genius, maybe Barry the duckling is brilliant too."

"I think the most brilliant duck, on his best day, still can't understand English… or spell." A smile played around his lips. "And excuse me, but Barry?"

Felicity cupped duckling Barry in her hands and held it up to him. "Look at this guy, and tell me he doesn't remind you of our Barry."

Oliver looked at the innocent, trusting and very youthful face of the duckling and wrinkled his nose. "Okay, yes, I see that, which is weird, but I do." He looked at her. "But what makes you so sure it's a boy duck?"

Felicity cuddled duckling Barry back to her chest. "I don't know, I figured you'd be able to tell me."

Oliver arched an eyebrow. "What about me says sexer of ducklings?"

Felicity shrugged. "You were on that island for a long time. I figured you'd just kind of picked up that sort of stuff. You learnt a lot of other life skills on Lian Yu."

"I don't know if working out the gender of poultry could be called a life skill, but most of my time on the island was taken up with trying not to get dead. Even if there was time for an evening class, Duck Genitals 101 probably wouldn't have been my first choice."

"So, we'll just go with Barry until, you know, we know one way or the other."

Felicity flipped on the switch for the electric jug to boil some water for her coffee, and then took a seat at the table, putting duckling Barry on top of the table. "Look at Barry wiggling his cute little butt."

Oliver took a seat across from her and smiled. "He is cute." Oliver's gaze drifted from duckling Barry shaking his fluffy butt and waddling around on the table top to Felicity. She was watching the duckling's antics with intent amusement. "So, back to what I was thinking."

Felicity dragged her gaze from duckling Barry to look at him. "What have you been thinking?"

"We never really finished talking about the baby stuff from a couple of weeks ago."

Felicity blinked. "There was no baby, ergo, no baby stuff to talk about."

Oliver hesitated briefly. "Not even how you felt afterwards?"

"I felt like I was going to die afterwards," said Felicity flatly.

Oliver frowned. "Really?" She hadn't given any indication of such strong feelings.

"Yes, I had that killer period the next day. I thought I was going to die… or I was wishing for death, one or the other." Felicity held out her finger to duckling Barry and let him nibble on it. "I guess I skipped those couple of periods with all the moving around we did, the different food and stuff. My body got all turned around, but man, when it caught up with me." She pulled a face. "Yeah, definitely praying for death. For a while there I thought I was internally hemorrhaging from running into that table."

"You did?" asked Oliver in vague horror. "Why didn't you say anything to me? I could have taken you to a doctor right away to put your mind at rest."

"Because I'd already jumped the gun with the whole baby thing in the first place," said Felicity in exasperation. "I didn't want to do it again, and look like some hysterical, gun jumping female."

"I need to know if you're not alright, Felicity." Oliver said that a little more loudly than he'd intended.

Felicity looked up at him in mild surprise. "I was alright."

"But you thought you might not be." Oliver couldn't quite let it go. Losing Felicity at this point in their relationship, for any reason, was something he simply couldn't fathom.

"I think a lot of things, Oliver. It's probably best for our relationship if I don't share everything I think about."

"How can you say that?"

"Well, you looked a little taken aback with my penis/coffee comparisons."

"That's because you said a penis and a cup of coffee are the same thing to you."

"No, I said they have a lot in common, but there are differences too. I mean, I can enjoy a nice cup of hot coffee in the middle of a restaurant and not get arrested. The same could not be said if I was enjoying your penis in a crowded restaurant." Felicity scratched the head of duckling Barry. "I think the restaurant would be shutting down that post dinner pick me up pretty darn quickly."

"Probably." They were getting side tracked again. Talking with Felicity was often like that. You'd sort of circle around the intended destination and end up somewhere completely different at the end. Oliver loved that about her. "But I don't want to talk about my penis." He inclined his head. "Okay, in a roundabout way, maybe I do."

"Let me have my first coffee, and then I'm in," said Felicity, flashing him a knowing smile.

The promise in that smile made it hard for Oliver to concentrate, but this was important. "So, I was thinking—"

"Still, wow, you're turning this into a real career."

"About your birth control pills."

That earned him Felicity's full attention as she stopped playing with duckling Barry and looked at him. "Yes?" she said uncertainly.

"About how they're only 98% effective." Oliver tried to keep his tone light and casual. "98% effective, it hardly seems worth it. That's 2% ineffective. 2% is twice as much as 1%, you know."

"I know," said Felicity slowly, "and I can't fault you on your math… but where is this going exactly?"

Oliver shifted in his chair a little. "After we found out you weren't pregnant, I just couldn't help thinking what it would have been like if you had been… pregnant that is."

Felicity straightened up a little. "What would it have been like?" she asked uncertainly.

Oliver gave a soft smile. "Wonderful," he said huskily.

"You-you said you wouldn't be disappointed if I wasn't pregnant," she reminded him.

"I didn't think I would be… but it turns out… I think I am." Oliver gave her a lopsided smile. "I think about what us having a baby together would be like… and the more I think about it, the more I want it."

"You want to have a baby?" asked Felicity unevenly.

"I want to have a baby with _you_ ," he corrected her. "The who part is very important to me."

Felicity looked like she was having difficulty processing all of this. "Why?"

"Because I love you," said Oliver simply.

"Not why me, but why a baby at all?"

"It's the same answer. I love you. I want us to be a family."

Felicity was looking at him a little worriedly. "You don't need a baby to be a family."

"I know that, but it doesn't change the fact that I think I'd like one… with you… sooner rather than later." Oliver looked at Felicity expectantly, eager to hear her thoughts on the subject, but when no thoughts were forthcoming, Oliver started to get nervous. "Ah… Felicity?"

"Mm?" she said faintly.

Her continued silence was unnerving him. Oliver felt his palms become suddenly sweaty. "You're not saying anything."

"I… ah… what would you like me to say?"

"In a perfect world, that you want what I want." He leant forward over the table towards her. "You do want children, don't you?"

"Yes," said Felicity without hesitation. "I do."

"So, what? Just not with me?" Oliver was starting to feel sick, mainly because he had no argument if that was how she felt. He knew he was a long shot, in so many ways. The fact that Felicity was even with him now was some kind of miracle. It shouldn't surprise him that Felicity didn't look at him exactly as father material. Oliver hadn't considered himself as anywhere near capable of being a parent to anyone for a long time. But now, everything had changed, he'd changed, and for the woman who'd always had so much faith in him to falter over such an important thing had Oliver breaking out in a cold sweat. "Is that what you're saying?" he asked hoarsely.

Felicity's expression was very serious as she held his gaze unflinchingly. She took a deep breath, as he held his, waiting for her response.

"Oliver, you know that I love you…"

 **A/N** **: And we'll just hold over the rest of that sentence until the next chapter. Everyone's cool with that, right? Oh good. The next chapter will be a very emotional one, for a variety of reasons. Hope you'll pull on some sensible shoes and your best pair of sweat pants for a meander through chapter three tomorrow… thanks for reading, as always.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** **: Whoops, nearly forgot to post this. Keep getting phone calls distracting me.**

 **So, this chapter, more emotional than the last couple, bit more somber, but then, there is always duckling Barry to make us smile. ;) Hopefully it'll pull together the threads I've laid out for this story so far. Fingers crossed.**

 **Thanks so much for reading as always, and hope you'll join me for the final chapter after this one.**

 **Cuddles…**

 **CHAPTER THREE**

"I know that you love me but…?" Oliver pushed her.

Felicity bit her bottom lip, seeing Oliver was upset, and not wanting that, but she had to tell him the truth. "But I was relieved when I wasn't pregnant."

Oliver's jaw tightened. "Because you don't want me as the father of your child?"

There was so much pain in those words it broke Felicity's heart. "How can you ask me that? Of course I do, Oliver. You're the only man I could ever imagine being the father of my child."

A look of relief washed over Oliver's face. "So, what are you saying, not yet, is that it? It's too soon?"

"It's not too soon," said Felicity slowly. "I mean, it doesn't have to be too soon, not if we don't want it to be—"

"I'm hearing another but coming up." Oliver leant forward over the table, distractedly ushering duckling Barry away from the edge of that same table. "What is it? Talk to me, Felicity, please."

Felicity watched Oliver instinctively protect the baby duck's safety as they spoke, not even aware he was doing it. That was so him. He was always looking to protect the helpless, it was part of the way he defined himself, while not even realizing it. Which was why it was hard for her to say what she was going to say next, because she knew this was a sensitive subject - the time when he hadn't protected the helpless. It was a subject they'd both been studiously avoiding. She held his gaze unflinchingly. "Do you know what a nuclear family is, Oliver?"

"Of course, it's two parents and the children."

She gave a little shake of her head. "No, it's two people doing the work of a village."

A look of puzzlement flitted across his features. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I was raised by a single mom, and don't get me wrong, she was amazing. I had a good life. Mom worked really hard for both of us, but, in the end, it was just the two of us, and that could get lonely sometimes, for my Mom too, I'm guessing." Felicity reached out and took Oliver's hand. "When we have a child, I want them to have a village to call their own."

Oliver suddenly looked troubled. "Felicity—"

"A baby is a huge thing, Oliver. I know we could do it alone, but the truth is, I don't want to. When we have a child, I want to be able to bring that baby back to a family who loves them just as much as we do. To people who'll take care of them, guide them, be a friend to them when we're just dumb old mom and dad who don't know anything. I want them to have their Aunt Thea, Uncle Diggle and Aunt Lyla. I want them to have cousin Sara to play with. I want them to have it all." Felicity bit her bottom lip. "If we have a baby, Oliver, I want that baby to be born into a home." she confessed quietly. "This—" she waved a hand around at their surrounds, "this has been amazing. The happiest I've ever been in my life. Every second is precious to me, but one day, it's going to have to end, because, well, life's not like this. We'll have to get back to the real world. We'll have to engage in that world again at some point." Her hand tightened on Oliver's. "And when we do, I want to have our family around us, supporting us."

Oliver's expression was somber as he looked at her hand on his. "Felicity, you know I'd do anything you ask of me, without hesitation—"

"He said, hesitating," said Felicity unevenly.

Oliver looked at her, eyes full of anguish as he put his other hand over the top of their linked ones. "But I don't know if I can give you this, because it isn't down to me. I broke my relationship with Diggle. I hate that it happened, and I really hoped he'd understand why I did what I did, like you have, but he hasn't, and I don't think he ever will." His lips pressed together, full of regret. "And I can't do anything about that. Diggle feels like he does, and I can't blame him for that, but I also can't fix something he doesn't want fixed."

"How do you know Diggle doesn't want this fixed?" asked Felicity quickly.

Oliver screwed up his face. "He was pretty emphatic on the subject at the time. And we haven't heard from him since we left Starling. A reconciliation between the two of us looks pretty much impossible from where I'm sitting."

"But you do impossible things all the time," she reminded him emotionally. "Your whole life is built on the impossible, and you know what, you turned those impossibilities into good things, things which have made you happy, made me happy."

"But this isn't about me," said Oliver unhappily. "It's about Diggle, and the fact he has every right to hate me."

Felicity could see how much saying those words hurt him.

"And I don't even know if I have the right to take that away from him." Oliver moved his shoulders restlessly. "I deserve his hatred."

Felicity could see Oliver was intent on adding his broken relationship with Diggle to the collections of crosses he bore, because some part of him still believed he wasn't quite worthy of real and complete happiness. That was an unacceptable thought to Felicity. "Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling _safe_ with a person," she said softly, "having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."

Oliver looked at her in amazement.

"It's a quote from a book I read once, 'A Life for a Life'." Felicity looked at him with compassion. "And it always stayed with me. What we have, I feel like that's how we are together. It's not that we don't hurt one another, it's just what we chose to hold onto going forward with our lives." Felicity reached out a hand and stroked his face. "And that's what I think you and John have too."

"Felicity," said Oliver painfully, "how do I say sorry for what I've done? How can my words take away John's feeling of betrayal? What would be enough?"

"That's up to Diggle," said Felicity quietly. "But I think it's important for both of your sakes that you try, no matter the outcome."

"And if I can't mend what's broken?" asked Oliver apprehensively. "What does that mean for us?"

"It means that I love a man who is willing to try in this life, even when the outcome is uncertain," said Felicity softly. "It means I'm building a life with a man who knows when and where to use his strength. A man who knows how to keep on loving even when that's not easy or convenient. That's the man I'm in love wit—oh!" As she been giving her earnest speech to an emotional looking Oliver, out of the corner of her eye she'd suddenly seen duckling Barry disappear off the table as he wandered too close to the edge.

Oliver's hand snapped out on instinct, catching the duckling before it hit the ground. The tiny creature shook its head, regaining its bearings as Oliver held it in his hand, bringing it back up to table height.

"A man with quick hands," said Felicity unsteadily. She looked at him admiringly. "You saved Barry."

Oliver screwed up his face. "And in thanks he's just pooped in my hand." He brought his hand closer to his face to check properly. "Yep, definitely a poop situation going on there."

Felicity's lips twitched. "To be fair, if I'd fallen that kind of height, that'd be pretty much my reaction too."

Oliver half-smiled. "I'll remember that for future reference."

"You'd save me anyway, involuntary body reflexes aside," said Felicity confidently.

"Yes," said Oliver huskily, "I would."

"Then save Diggle," she urged him. "Save him from thinking you don't care enough about your relationship with him to at least try and fix this. You have to try, Oliver, even if—"

"Diggle ends up pooping in my hand?" asked Oliver wryly.

Felicity smiled. "Yes, even then… because that's who you are, that's the kind of man you are."

Oliver sighed heavily, and looked at duckling Barry. "I need to wash my hand… and Barry."

"You do what you think is right, Oliver," said Felicity, not talking about Barry right then. "And if you want my thoughts on this—"

Oliver arched an eyebrow. "Haven't I just gotten your thoughts on this?"

"In my experience, you often have shaky starts, but you're a strong finisher." Felicity smiled lovingly at him. "So, go and wash duckling poop off your hand, for both of your sakes."

"I'd kiss you now if things weren't trickling down between my fingers right now. I think Barry's peed as well now."

"That means he likes you," said Felicity confidently as Oliver stood up headed towards the sink.

"Let's hope that's not going to be Diggle's way of saying he likes me," muttered Oliver.

"Life isn't about guarantees, it's about taking chances and seeing where that takes you."

Oliver looked back over his shoulder as he washed his hand and duckling Barry off. "How's that working out for you so far?"

Felicity's face lit up with a warm smile. "No complaints from me."

"I love you," said Oliver huskily.

"I love you too… even if you do smell like duck poop."

Oliver's lopsided smile was back. "Then I guess this must be the real thing then?"

She smile widened into a grin, happy that they'd finally talked this out. "I guess so." What happened next was up to Oliver, but she knew ultimately he'd do the right thing, because that was who he was. Sometimes you just had to point him in the right direction first.

 **#**

Felicity's word had stayed with Oliver all of that day, and the next. They'd rolled around in his head, and Oliver had done battle with himself over whether he even had the right to ask forgiveness of Diggle for what he'd done. Last night he'd made a decision. Very early this morning he'd gotten on a private jet, and flown back to Starling City. Those were the parts he had control over. Now he had none, so Oliver did the only thing he could, he told the truth. "I'm here because of Felicity."

Diggle frowned. "You said she was alright."

"She is, but something happened a couple of weeks back." Oliver took a deep breath. "We thought she was pregnant."

Diggle hesitated. "But she isn't?"

"No, it was a false alarm. But there was this short period of time that we thought she could be, and in that time, she had a fall, ran into a table and knocked herself off her feet." Oliver tried to find the words to let the other man know how that had felt. "It was only for a few minutes, where I thought Felicity was hurt, that our child could be hurt, but what that did to me, the need I had to protect them both. It was… it was—"

"Pathological?" offered up Diggle calmly. "Like you'd rip off your skin if that was what it'd take to save them? Like you had no limits all of a sudden?"

"Yes," croaked Oliver.

Diggle's expression was hard. "And then when you thought about it days later, it was even worse, because you couldn't stop reliving that moment, and all that fear and helplessness you felt, imagining your life without them?"

Oliver closed his eyes. "Yes," he said painfully.

"And that was all over a child that was never real. You hadn't seen the love of your life bring that child into the world. You hadn't held your baby in your arms. You hadn't seen her look up at with you with so much trust and love that you thought you'd explode on the spot."

The enormity of what he was asking of Diggle washed over Oliver anew. That was what he'd been contemplating these last couple of days. He knew how it had felt for him when he thought Felicity might be pregnant and hurt. It was a new level of anguish that Oliver hadn't experience before, and he'd experienced a lot of levels so far in this life. But when it came to Felicity and their potential child, a whole new layer of existence had been opened up to him. "I thought I knew, I thought I understood your pain, your anger," said Oliver quietly. "I'd suffered, I'd lost, I'd sacrificed, I thought I knew." He shook his head slowly. "I didn't understand, John, not even a little bit. Not until I had the smallest taste of it with Felicity, and thinking she and our child might be threatened."

"So, now you know," said Diggle coldly. "What does that change? You did what you did, Oliver. Understanding it now, getting what you did to me, to my family, what does that change between you and me?"

"Because now I truly understand what I'm apologizing for." Oliver took a step closer to him. "I know why what I did was crossing the most sacred line you know, John. I was thinking big picture, but you, you were thinking about the only picture which truly matters – your family. I risked Thea and Felicity, thinking that it was the same thing, but it wasn't. They chose this fight, this world, your daughter didn't. I tried to minimalize the risk to her as best I could, but I still chose to put her at risk in the first place. That was me, I did that."

"Yes, it was."

Despite what Oliver guessed were Diggle's best intentions, he heard the pain in the other man's voice.

"I was best man at your wedding because you thought you could trust me to guard over your family like you would, and I failed you, John, and for that, I'm deeply sorry."

Diggle looked away for a moment, and Oliver had a flicker of hope that he'd heard the utter sincerity in his voice, and would accept his apology.

Diggle looked back at him, expression set in stone. "You said what you had to say. I think we're done here."

Oliver's heart sank, but he wasn't quite done yet. "There's something else I need to say."

Diggle's lips tightened. "Then say it, Oliver. Lyla and Sara are waiting for me."

Oliver held his impatient gaze without flinching. "When we first met, when I made you the offer of fighting beside me, I don't think you came on board because you were looking to save the city. That was my crusade, it was never yours."

Diggle just regarded him steadily, expression inscrutable.

"I think you joined my crusade because you were looking to save me."

Diggle's lips tightened slightly.

The tiny movement told Oliver he was right. "So, save me," said Oliver quietly. "Not because I deserve it, not because of who I am, but because of who you are, the kind of man you are. The kind of man Felicity deserves, and I aspire to be."

"You're your own man, Oliver," said Diggle tightly. "I can't live your life for you."

"No, but you can make that life better by being in it." Oliver took another step towards him, tone becoming more urgent. "I want to give Felicity everything in this world, be a partner to her in every sense of the word. I want to be a good father, and I don't think I can do that properly without my brother."

"You betrayed out brotherhood," said Diggle painfully. "You put everything I hold dear at risk."

Oliver's stomach tightened. "I know."

"And you expect me to shrug that off, like it was nothing?"

"I don't expect anything, John. All I know is that grace by its very nature is undeserved, and that's what I'm asking for, your grace." Oliver shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I can't take back what I did. I can't find enough words to communicate the anguish I feel over doing what I did to you and your family. I just know that if there was a way to make amends, I'd do it, but there isn't. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness."

Diggle's hands clenched and unclenched by his side. "You're asking too much of me, Oliver."

Oliver gave a small, sad grimace. "I understand." It was to be expected, but it still hurt. He turned to leave, but then hesitated briefly. "I just wanted to thank you for all that you have given me, John. I was never easy, even before this. You changed my life in the best way possible. I'll always be grateful to you for that." Oliver gave a slight inclination of his head at the still stoic-looking Diggle, knowing he'd said all he'd come to say. He turned, and walked away, wishing he was taking happier news back to the island and Felicity.

 **#**

Felicity stirred a little as she felt the bed dip beside her. She blinked open blurry eyes, smiling sleepily up at the silhouette leaning over her. "You're back," she mumbled happily. She didn't know what time it was, but it was late. Felicity had intended to wait up for him, but couldn't help falling asleep.

"I'm back," Oliver agreed huskily, bending over to kiss her gently on the lips.

"I got your note." Felicity had woken this morning to find Oliver gone. At first she'd assumed he was out on his usual morning run, but then she'd found his note.

' _Mercy dash – the very fabric of the universe is being threatened – back soon… Oliver'_

Technically it was her note, he'd just signed the bottom of it. Felicity had known without him telling her where he was, and what he was doing.

Felicity rolled over onto her back, smiling up at him sleepily as she stroked his arm. "You know, for future reference, if you could make your notes a little less dramatic, that'd be great. A girl could get worried."

Oliver smiled as she returned his previous complaint back at him. "Duly noted."

Felicity searched his face in the dim light. "Does a girl have reason to worry?" she asked softly.

Oliver hung his head and shook it. "Diggle didn't want to know." He looked up, and met her compassionate gaze. "I get it. What I did was unforgivable."

"I'm sorry, Oliver," said Felicity huskily. "But you did the right thing by trying."

He gave her a pained, half-smile. "No guarantees in this world, right?"

"I can guarantee you a warm bed with a woman who loves you tonight… and every other night for the rest of our lives." She smiled up at him lovingly. "How does that sound?"

"Like all my dreams have come true," said Oliver, voice strained with emotion.

Felicity held out her arms to him. "Then come here you."

Oliver didn't hesitate, moving into her arms. Felicity hugged him to her, willing all his pain and disappointment to go away with the force of her love. Oliver lay his head on her chest, and Felicity stroked his hair, the rest of their bodies tangled up in each other. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I love you, Oliver Queen," she said quietly into the night air.

Oliver's response was to hug her more tightly, murmuring his response into her skin. "I love you too." He drew in an unsteady breath. "Never leave me, Felicity. I need you so much."

Felicity smiled, that was an easy promise to give. "Okay," she said simply.

Oliver rubbed his cheek against her breast. "Thank you," he said gratefully.

He'd thanked her like there was some kind of option for her to leave him now. He was adorably deluded. Felicity knew where she wanted to spend the rest of her days, and it was by this man's side, no matter what challenges came their way.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** **: And here we are, at the end of our little tale, gentle reader.**

 **We go back to a bit more fluff in this chapter, after all the emotion of the last chapter. Like I said, I had fun writing this little story. My shortest on in a long time. Nice to know I can write a short fic. I usually ramble on endlessly and end up with really big fics.**

 **Hmm… just home from work, so brain isn't being very cooperative, so I think I'll just post and run. That seems like it'd be for the best.**

 **Hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for hanging out with me. Don't forget to pick up your shoes at the front door… except for those cute pink sling backs… they've gone to a better place… my cupboard.**

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

"OLIVER!"

Felicity screaming his name had Oliver sitting bolt upright in the bed the next morning. He was out of the bed and running towards the sound when he nearly knocked Felicity over as she appeared in the doorway. "What is it?" he asked urgently, voice still croaky with sleep.

Felicity was holding duckling Barry in one hand, and something else in the other, but she shoved Barry up at his face. "I've poisoned Barry!" she exclaimed dramatically.

Oliver squinted, getting his eyes to focus on the little duckling. "He… ah… he looks fine to me."

"What do you know, you're not a vet," said Felicity anxiously.

"Either are you," he reminded her. "What did Barry eat?" Oliver was trying to think what poisons they had in the place that the duckling could have gotten into.

Felicity held up her other hand, waving around a white disc. "My birth control pills!"

Oliver blinked. "Your birth control pills?"

"Yes."

"Umm… how?"

"I had them out, and I don't know, I must have left them on the table next to Barry's bed."

"Why did you put Barry's bed on the table?"

"Because this island has snakes, and I didn't want him on the ground to get eaten."

"Snakes can climb. They'd be able to get up on the table."

"They can?" asked Felicity in surprise.

"Yeah, well, trees and everything."

"Oh, okay, good point." Felicity held up Barry to his face, waggled him around. "But not the point right now." Her expression was stricken. "What do we do?"

"Are we even sure whatever is in birth control is bad for ducks?" he asked uncertainly.

Felicity frowned at him. "You don't know what's in birth control pills?"

"Um, no… is that bad?" Oliver felt slightly guilty about that fact. It was just something he'd never had to think about before.

"Estrogen and progesterone," Felicity informed him. "Here." She shoved duckling Barry at him. "I'm googling the effects of estrogen and progesterone on ducklings." Felicity hurried over to her side of the bed, grabbing her tablet.

Meanwhile, Oliver took the opportunity to examine duckling Barry more carefully. "He seems okay to me. I mean what does estrogen and progesterone even meant to do?"

"Really?" asked Felicity in exasperation. "You have it in your body too." She tapped away on the screen.

"I do?" Oliver pulled a musing face. "Okay. Biology isn't really in my wheelhouse. Ask me something about making a bridge out of vines… or how to sharpen an arrow with a stone."

Felicity flicked him a vaguely impatient glance. "How either of those things going to help Barry right now?"

Oliver shrugged. "Just wanted to let you know I can bring things to the table." He looked down at duckling Barry who was currently nibbling on his finger. "But it probably wouldn't be a duckling and easy access contraceptives," he muttered under his breath.

"This wasn't my fault," proclaimed Felicity loudly as he obviously didn't mumble that little dig quietly enough. "Barry shouldn't have been able to open the case."

"Well, like you said, he's named after a genius."

Felicity looked back at the screen and made a distressed noise. "I can't find any information on the effects of an overdose of estrogen and progesterone on ducklings." She screwed up her face. "How can I be the first person in the universe who needs to know this information?" Suddenly she was looking at him accusingly. "It's all that porn! The internet is choked up with porn, and it doesn't leave room for the really important stuff, like what to do when your duckling OD's on hormones."

The way Felicity was looking at him, Oliver felt the need to apologize for that fact."Ah… sorry… although, I'd just like to point out, I'm not responsible for the porn."

"Oh please," snorted Felicity, "you're all over YouTube, running around drunk and naked at various parties. You don't think that hasn't been downloaded by every woman with a pulse and every gay man on the planet?"

Oliver cursed the exploits of youthful, drunken Ollie, but then realized something. He arched an eyebrow at her. "How do you know about those videos?"

Felicity had the grace to blush. "I-ah-I read about them."

Oliver's lips twitched. "Sure you did."

Suddenly Felicity jumped up. "Barry!"

Oliver instinctively looked down at the duckling.

"No, human Barry," said Felicity as she hastily grabbed for her phone. "He's a chemist. He'll know what to do."

"You know, we're probably worrying about nothing. Barry seems fine." Just then duckling Barry started to make some wheezing noises, his body shuddering in Oliver's hands. "Okay," said Oliver hastily, "make the call."

Felicity finished dialing in the number, and put him on speaker phone.

"Hello?" He sounded particularly groggy.

"Barry, it's me, I need your help," said Felicity urgently.

He instantly sounded more alert. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"What do you know about the effects of estrogen and progesterone on a duckling's body?"

There was a long pause. "Wait, who is this again?"

Oliver cradled duckling Barry to his chest. He couldn't blame the other man from his confusion. He was still trying to get his pulse back under control from being woken by the panicked sound of Felicity screaming his name.

"It's me, Felicity," she said rapidly.

"And me," called out Oliver.

"Right," he said slowly. "And you want to know what now?"

Felicity gave an impatient click of her tongue. "Estrogen and progesterone. Effects of an overdose on a duckling."

Another long pause. "So… Felicity Smoak, right… and Oliver Queen… used to be the Arrow?"

"Barry!" she snapped. "Wake up properly and help me with this, otherwise duckling Barry could die."

"So, to recap… it's Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen calling about a potential poisoning by hormones of a duckling… named Barry."

Felicity stood up and started to pace. "Yes, yes, why is this taking you so long to process? Duckling Barry ate my birth control pills."

"Why were you feeding your birth control pills to a duck? It probably wouldn't work on them, you know."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "I know that, Barry," she ground out. "It was an accidental overdose."

"Oh, okay."

When he didn't offer anything further, Felicity snapped at him. "Barry!"

"What?"

"What do we do now? Is Barry in danger? Is he going to die?"

"Umm… gee, I don't know what to tell you, Felicity. Maybe."

Oliver looked down at duckling Barry who was now shaking his head repeatedly.

"You're a chemist, you should know these things," she said accusingly.

"Should I?" asked a perplexed sounding Barry.

"Ah, Felicity?" Oliver was looking at duckling Barry with real concern now. The tiny thing was making some disturbing hacking noises. "I think we might have a problem he—" He didn't get to finish as duckling Barry suddenly vomited up the birth control pills all over Oliver's naked chest. He grimaced as warm, slimy half-digested pill-laden duckling sick slid down his bare skin. "Yep, definitely a problem," he sighed in resignation.

"Barry, duckling Barry has just thrown up all over Oliver!" she exclaimed in delight. "That's good, isn't it?"

"When it comes to poisonings, better out than in definitely applies," Barry agreed. "So yes, that'd be great."

Oliver pulled a face as he flicked off the duck vomit from his body before it soaked into his underwear, the only piece of clothing he was wearing. "If it's okay with everyone, I'm going to retain some mixed feelings on the greatness of this event."

Felicity was grinning. "Oh, thank heavens. I don't know what I would have done if I'd poisoned little Barry."

"Yeah," said Oliver dryly as he grabbed a towel from the cupboard, and wiped himself down, "it's a miracle. A sticky, slimy miracle."

"Umm… Barry?" queried human Barry. "You named a duckling after me?"

Felicity and Oliver shared a look.

"Yes," she said hastily, "but only because he was the biggest, most butch looking duckling in the group, and he reminded us of you."

There was another pause. "I'm going to take that obvious blatant lie at face value, and not contemplate the thought that you guys see me as a fluffy, harmless duckling."

"Oh good," said Felicity in relief.

"Because, you know, secure in my manhood and all."

"You should be," she said swiftly. "Your manhood is very… umm… manly. Oliver and I were just talking about it, commenting on the manliness of it all."

"That would be weird if it was true."

"Yes, it would," agreed Oliver wholeheartedly.

"So, crisis passed? Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Yes," said Felicity, coming over to stroke duckling Barry's head where Oliver was still holding him. "Thanks for your help."

"I didn't do anything," Barry reminded her.

"Oh, right, then thanks for nothing, I guess."

"Any time."

Barry hung up then as Felicity took duckling Barry from Oliver's hands. "Are you alright, little man? You scared the life out of me." She cuddled him to her chest. "I know it's only been a couple of days, but I've grown really attached to him." Felicity looked at Oliver. "How about you?"

"Well, there are a few more bodily fluids involved in our relationship then I'm entirely comfortable with," said Oliver wryly, "but yes, I'm fond of the little guy too."

Felicity continued to cuddle duckling Barry to her chest, but was looking at him intently. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I could live the rest of my life not hearing you scream my name like that." His look was pointed. "Speaking of having the hell scared out of a person."

"Sorry," said Felicity sheepishly, "that might have been a slight overreaction on my part, but when I saw Barry gobbling down my birth control pills, I just kind of freaked out. I'd be better if I'd already had my morning coffee."

"Well, the important thing is that Barry is going to be alright, and we probably haven't devastated human Barry's manhood." Oliver inclined his head. "Too badly anyway." His phone buzzed, signaling a message had been left, and Oliver went over to find out who it was. They didn't get many callers these days.

"If that's Barry, tell him I'll send him a photo of his namesake," said Felicity absently as she cooed over duckling Barry.

"It's not," said Oliver, eyes going a little wide as he saw who the text was from. He quickly opened it to find a video attached.

Felicity was by his side. "Who is it?"

Oliver's heart was beating faster as he opened the video, Felicity leaning into him to look as well.

"It's Sara," she said in delight.

It was indeed Sara Diggle, pretty as a picture in a little purple dress, with a white head band of flowers in her hair, and the gorgeous little girl was being encouraged by her parents as she took what Oliver had to guess were her first steps.

"She's walking," breathed Felicity as they both watched her take those tottering first steps. "Oh Oliver, look at her, she's walking."

Tears pricked Oliver's eyes because he knew this was more than just a video of Sara's first steps. It was Diggle taking his first steps towards Oliver again. The enormity of the generosity of the man he was proud to call brother hit Oliver anew. He hadn't realized how much hope he'd been holding out that Diggle would still find it in his heart to forgive him until he saw this video. And not just Diggle's forgiveness either. Oliver knew he wouldn't be looking at this video with Lyla's blessing as well. The capacity for love and forgiveness from these two people in his life overwhelmed him.

Felicity looked up at him, seeing him choked with emotion. She leant her head against his shoulder. "I know," she said softly, slipping her arm around his, "he's a special guy, isn't he?"

"Yes," choked out Oliver, "he is. They both are."

Sara's uneven steps came to an abrupt halt as she tumbled over, landing on her backside, before promptly bursting out laughing. There was loud clapping and cries of delight from her parents at her achievement, and then the video was over.

"That is soo adorable," gushed Felicity. "I want to see it again." She took the phone off him, and pressed replay, holding Barry up so he could see the screen too. "Look, that's baby Sara," she informed the little duckling. "You'll get to meet her one day soon. She's just learning to walk. Isn't she adorable?"

In response duckling Barry tried to eat the screen, pecking away at it.

"No," laughed Felicity, "we don't try and eat family." She held him up to her face. "Remember that, it's an important thing, so I don't want you worrying over that, okay? Even if when you do grow up to be bigger… and delicious. We don't eat family members in this family… no matter how good they might taste with orange and crispy skin."

Oliver felt like that weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders with Diggle's tacit forgiveness in the form of sharing the video with him. It didn't mean there wasn't work to do on their relationship, of course. What it meant was the Diggle was willing to try. Oliver was overcome with renewed happiness at that knowledge, and meant he could enjoy Felicity's conversation with a baby bird even more. "You're gorgeous," he announced, smiling down at her indulgently, "and obviously very broody."

Felicity's attention snapped back to him. "What, a girl can't coo over a duckling, and watching a baby take their first steps without it being called broody? That's pretty sexist of you, Mr. Queen."

Oliver ignored her feigned outrage, stepping closer, and drawing her into his arms. "Okay, maybe it's just wishful projection on my behalf, because I'm as broody as hell," said Oliver, nuzzling her neck.

"Language, please," she tutted teasingly. "I don't want Barry growing up with a potty mouth."

"Yes, his potty butt is more than enough for me," he agreed in amusement. Oliver pulled back to stare at her.

"What?" she laughed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was just thinking how great it is that Diggle's accepted my apology." Oliver's smile widened. "That we have that village you were talking about to go home to, when we're ready."

"Yes, we do." Felicity's gaze skittered from his, and then she was walking from the bedroom, replaying the video as she went.

"Felicity?" said Oliver, following her out, and trying not to notice the sexy way her backside was swaying underneath the white t-shirt of his she slept in. Now was not the time to be distracted by such things… no matter how awesomely fantastic they were.

"Mm?" she murmured, not turning around.

"I was thinking, seeing as Diggle and I are building bridges, and Barry is okay, now might be a good time to pick up where we left off regarding the possibility of hearing the pitter patter of little feet around the place." He paused, turning Felicity around to face him. "You know… ones that aren't webbed." Oliver looked at Barry. "No offense, buddy."

Felicity was gnawing on her bottom lip. "I guess."

"But? You said all that was holding you back from us talking about having children was the fact we didn't have a home to raise them in. Well, we do now. I'm not pushing you, Felicity, but I do want both of set of our cards out on the table about this, it's important."

"I know it's important," she said emphatically, "and that's why we really need to think about this. We've had Barry for three days, and he's nearly broken his neck, and then he ate drugs and could have died." Felicity wrinkled her nose. "That's not a great track record for us going forward doing this whole parenting thing with an actual baby, Oliver."

"Felicity, you're brilliant. You ran the entire Arrow operation from your desk. You can do anything. You kept us all alive."

"Yes, but you were all pretty capable to start with – you know, with the being able to walk, and knowing not to eat birth control pills stuff," she worried. "How are we going to go with a completely helpless baby? We've nearly killed Barry twice."

"Barry fell off a table, and ate drugs off a table." Oliver shrugged. "It's simply. We'll just remove all the tables in our place, and our kid should be safe."

Felicity pondered that solution for a moment. "Well, it's gets to the heart of the matter," she said slowly. "It's simple and completely doable." Felicity gave an emphatic nod of her head. "I like it. I like it a lot."

Oliver grinned down at her, as she smiled back. "See, we're all over this parenting thing."

"Totally… although we may have a few questions to answer when we have guests over, and we make them eat off the floor," she said in amusement.

"They'll understand," said Oliver easily. "They're family, and we don't have to start trying for a baby right away... although…"

"Although what?" Felicity put duckling Barry down on the ground near a bowl of water, which he promptly climbed into and started paddling around in.

"Although seeing as Barry has eaten half of your birth control pills, it feels like a sign, like maybe we shouldn't wait?" he suggested.

"Or, maybe it's a sign that we shouldn't have sex for the next couple of weeks until I'm back up to date with them?" she offered up.

Oliver threw back his head, and laughed, but then stopped abruptly when Felicity didn't join in. "Wait, what? You're serious about that?" He blinked, thinking of how they basically hadn't been able to keep their hands off each from the minute they'd driven off into that sunset. "Really?"

Felicity smiled. "No."

"Thank God," he said in relief. "Because short of some kind of horrible accident involving my genitals, I don't know if that's something I'd actually be able to manage."

"We abstained from sex for two and a half years," she reminded him indulgently.

"Yes, but that only happened because I didn't know what I was missing out on. Now, I do." His expression was very earnest. "Seriously, there would have to be significant maiming going on down there for me to have a shot at not touching you for that amount of time."

Felicity looked like she was trying not to laugh. "Well, we definitely don't want that then. Mind you, there are always condoms."

"Well, okay, if you're willing to take the risk when it comes to Barry's fetish for eating contraceptives, then sure, we can roll that dice," said Oliver innocently.

Felicity laughed and shook her head. "You're shameless."

"Only when it comes to you."

"We still have a lot of things to decide, Oliver. Like… we don't actually have anywhere to live. Also, I kind of have a multi-billion dollar business to work out what to do with."

He shrugged. "We'll work it out. You can go and run Palmer Technologies, and I'll do the house husband thing."

"Really?" she asked in surprise.

"Sure, I'm an evolved man of the 21st century. Plus, you know, quick hands, remember?" Oliver held up his hands and wiggled his fingers at her. "That'll come in handy if Felicity junior is a climber."

"Felicity junior?" she asked in mock horror. "Oh no, that's awful. So, what, if it's a boy, you want an Oliver junior running around?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oliver the second?" she teased him.

"Okay, just no, but I do like the idea of the names having a meaning."

Felicity smiled. "Like Olivia if it's a girl?"

"Or Felix if it's a boy?" he suggested.

"I used to date a guy named Felix," Felicity informed him. "But that's another story."

"No old boyfriend names," said Oliver firmly. "Or old girlfriends."

"Then we should pray for a boy, because with the number of women you've slept with, our only name choices will be Gertrude and Brunhilda."

"One of our maid's names was Gertrude," mused Oliver. That earned him a sharp look from Felicity. "But I didn't sleep with her," he said hastily. "I was eight, she was in her sixties… it would have never worked out."

"That was very emotionally aware of eight year old you to work that out," she said cheekily.

"I know, and it's a real shame too, because she made the best waffles."

"I can make waffles," Felicity volunteered brightly.

"You can?"

"Well, in theory. Never actually tried, but it can't be any harder than reconfiguring an entire ATOM suit."

"Good point." Oliver studied her carefully. "So… we're doing this thing then?"

Felicity moved closer to him, and put her hands on his bare chest. "How about this? We start thinking about what we want to do after this little honeymoon of ours is over. We'll both put out a wish list, and then blend them into one, workable list."

"And I'm allowed to include babies on that wish list?" he quizzed her.

"Yes, absolutely. We both want a baby—"

"Or two… maybe three… or five."

Felicity's eyes went wide. "You want five kids?"

"I want a brood," he agreed readily. "How many are in a brood?"

"I think one constitutes a brood," said Felicity unevenly.

Oliver's face was openly skeptical. "I think we need at least three, to be anywhere near brood territory."

"Can we count Barry as one of those three?" Felicity asked hopefully.

"No, but he can go towards our pet count."

Felicity was starting to look worried. "How many pets do you want?"

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know, enough to go with our brood. A couple of dogs maybe, and Barry, of course… assuming we can smuggle him back into the States."

"This is getting a little out of hand," said Felicity unsteadily. "First there was just a baby on the table—"

"We're getting rid of all the tables, remember?"

Felicity inclined her head. "Even so—"

"And we'll negotiate time frames. We don't have to go back to Starling and start right away. I just really want to start planning a future with you, Felicity, one which includes, but is not limited to a wedding, babies, white picket fences and a menagerie of pets. We weren't allowed pets growing up, Mom was allergic. I'd like our children to be able to have them."

Felicity pursed her lips. "Okay, we'll negotiate on numbers of children and pets. And in the meantime—"

"And in the meantime, we're without means of contraception," Oliver reminded her. "You know, because of an act of God." He knew he shouldn't be pushing, but Oliver just couldn't help himself. He was just so damned excited about the thought of a future with Felicity. For the longest time he'd never allowed himself any thoughts of a tomorrow because there seemed to be no point. Now, there were a million things he wanted to fill their tomorrows with, and Oliver didn't want to wait one more minute before starting any of them.

"It was an act of duck," said Felicity dryly. "It's not the same thing."

"Maybe Barry is working as an instrument of God," said Oliver knowingly.

Felicity looked over to where Barry was now walking around the kitchen. "God's instrument just pooped again."

Oliver inclined his head. "Instruments have been known to do that." He leant down, pressing his forehead against hers, eyes smiling down at her. "Tell you what, why don't we spin that wheel of fate? We can pick you up some more contraceptive pills when we head into the main town in a couple of days… and in the meantime… we could just see what happens."

"You mean we're going to have a ton of sex between now and then, and you're just going to pray to your duck god that you knock me up in the process." Felicity's accusation was laced with amusement. "What happened to us making a plan, working out a time frame?"

"I'm all for those things, but we're on holidays, all bets are off when you're on holidays," said Oliver innocently. He became more serious, cupping her face in his hands, while keeping his face close to hers. "Felicity, I love you. I want to make babies with you, now, next week, in a year's time. It's what I want, and I'm going to be the best husband and father I can possibly be to all of you."

Felicity looked overcome with emotion at his promise to her, but she still managed a wobbly smile. "So, in the meantime, we get lots of sex, right? That's what you're offering me?"

Oliver grinned. "Always."

Felicity's smile was suitably impish. "Okay, let's spin your duck god's random wheel of fate, and see where we land."

Oliver's face lit up. "Seriously?"

"Apart from the duck god part, absolutely," she laughed.

Oliver made a delighted sound, and kissed her hard. "You're not going to regret this."

Felicity gave a breathless laugh. "You talk a good game, mister. You're hard to say no to."

"No matter what happens, we'll make this work, Felicity, I promise you," he said earnestly.

Felicity's expression softened. "I know," she breathed. "Now, I believe you've made other promises of late… ones involving copious amounts of sex?"

A huge, wicked smile split Oliver's face, and then he was throwing Felicity over his shoulder, marching them both back to the bedroom.

"Oliver!" she said in laughing protest. "I can walk."

"You need to conserve your strength," he said knowingly, depositing her with a playful thump onto the bed. Oliver moved up over her, holding himself above her body on his hands and knees. "Copiousness requires pacing yourself."

"Don't you worry about me, Mr. Queen," she said cheekily. "I can more than keep up."

Oliver bent down, burying his face in her neck, and nuzzling the soft, sweet skin there. "Prove it," he said throatily.

"Careful what you wish for," she sassed him. "I don't want to break you."

Oliver drew back and smiled down at Felicity with all the love in his heart he had for her. "I have everything I could wish for," he told her huskily. "Anything more than this is just icing on the cake I thought I'd never have."

Felicity beamed up at him before wrapping her arms around his neck, and drawing her down to him. "Then shut up and ice my cake, big boy."

Oliver couldn't help the rumble of laughter at her words, Felicity joining in. He loved this woman so much. Felicity made him laugh, she made him happy to be alive, and those were two things he'd thought he'd never know again. Oliver kissed her, still laughing, and gave himself over to the unadulterated bliss of loving, and being loved by the one and only Felicity Meghan Smoak.


End file.
